Welcome to the AC Tropical Fish aquarium forum. Our aquarium forum is the place to discuss any aquarium related issue in a friendly environment. Our aquarium forum welcomes aquarists of all levels from beginners to experts. Please ask a question in the how to section of our forum or read the FAQ section if you have any questions. register to and become a part of our friendly aquarium forum community today.

Perfect for home or office or any location, the silent–operating Eclipse Hex 5 is the only aquarium of its kind. It features total three–stage filtration––the same high–efficiency filtration employed in Marineland's much larger aquatic systems.

And the Eclipse Hex 5 has Marineland's patented BIO–Wheel, the leader in biological filtration. The super–efficient Hex 5 provides the best in mechanical, chemical, and biological filtration––aerating and filtering the water seven times each hour. Water is pumped silently through the Eclipse Rite–Size Filter Cartridge (packed with fast–acting Black Diamond Premium Activated Carbon) and over the BIO–Wheel, where beneficial bacteria work to remove more toxic ammonia and nitrite with every turn.

The hexagonal tank delivers optimum design profile and leakproof durability. All filtration media is inside a top–mounted access hood––no hoses, no filter boxes, and no noisy air pumps. The contoured light hood plugs into any standard household outlet and includes a convenient front access port for easy feeding.

Great footprint, good filtration, nice lighting (if you get CFL), well built.

Cons:

Cords are a pain, took a long time to cycle, 2 versions in the wild (1 with incandescent, the other with CFL)

I got this tank on sale at Petsmart for $40. In it lives a little pea puffer and an Oto and a handful of ghost shrimp. It is heavily planted. There are 2 versions of this. One has incandescent lighting, which is as terrible as all incandescent lighting, and there's a newer revision with flourescent. With the flourescent, my plants are growing so quickly they've provided enough overstock to stock my other 2 tanks as well. The filtration is excellent, granted I do have a small bio-load. The bio-wheel took about a month to show bacteria growing on it. I have this tank on my coffee table, and it looks great... especially when the tank is planted. WIth the heavy planting, the 360 degree view is nice for finding the little pea puffer hunting for snails among all the plants.

Would definitely buy again (but be sure to get the flourescent one the first time...)

This is a good tank to get started in an Aquarium hobby. First thing you should know is that with the 5 gallon hex (which I got), you can only keep 1 fish in it (best would be a Betta. This tank is too small for several fish, so if you want more fish, you better get a bigger tank. I have mine all set up and there are good and bad things about it.

Good:
Inexpensive starter tank
Easy to set up.
Looks nice and takes up only a small space (good for a desktop or a small night table)
You might not need a heater (see the light description in the bad section below)

Bad:
Did not come with starter chemicals & food as stated in the setup instructions (apparently this happened to a lot of people)
Light gets hot and heats up tank alot (With it on the tank heats up to 83 degrees in 8 hours). If you live in a warm area or room, this can be a big problem. You might have to keep a small fan nearby to cool the fixture.
Filter is sometimes quirky & you may have to fill your tank almost all the way to the top to get it to run.
My light at first would not work so I had to take it apart and switch the socket around (There are actually 2 light sockert and 1 socket would not work.
Being tall in height and short in width, it is a little awkward to do maintenance on the water and cleaning of the tank. I had to take out my 2 decorations to be able to clean the gravel as there is not a lot of arm room inside the tank. Also you have to remove the light fixture and filter to be able to really get inside.

Since this is my first tank I'm pretty happy with it, but I definately see myself upgrading to a bigger tank later on, just for the convenience of easier tank maintenance and cleaning.